There is polling data to support that roughly ~10% of Native Americans find the name offensive. Coupled with recent polling data of the general populous, it shows that white people are far more offended on the whole about an NFL franchise being named the Redskins than Native Americans are. Go figure.
So Pat isn't talking out of his @ss on this occasion. At the same time, that polling data he is referring to was flawed. And you can find really flawed polling data to support that most Native Americans are offended, too. It's more of a complex issue than people on the extremes want to admit.
Depends on what polling you use. In 2001, Indian Country Today conducted a poll of an undisclosed number of readers reporting that "81 percent of respondents indicated use of American Indian names, symbols and mascots are predominantly offensive and deeply disparaging to Native Americans."
The 10% poll done by SI is widely disputed by the native american community. Here is an example:
The possible flaw in random and anonymous polls of Native American's opinion is that they must rely upon self-identification to select the target group. In an editorial in the Bloomington Herald Times, Steve Russell (an enrolled Cherokee citizen and associate professor of criminal justice at Indiana University), states that both SI and Annenberg's samples of "self-identified Native Americans... includes plenty of people who have nothing to do with Indians".[98] The problem of individuals claiming to be Native American when they are not is well known in academic research, and is a particular problem when non-natives claim Indian identity specifically to gain authority in the debate over sports mascots.
The other poll by Associate Press that stated that 80% of people weren't offended also had a significant flaw.
The Associated Press reported a telephone survey conducted by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Corporate Communications in April, 2013 that 4 out of 5 Americans would keep the Redskins name while only 11% would change it. However, only 2 of the 1,004 persons interviewed identified themselves as Native American.[
In 2009, when the trademark of "Redskin" was removed (later overturned) it was supported by 500 Native groups, hundreds of tribes, and tens of thousands of signatures. Two-thirds of the federally recognized tribes. That sure doesn't sound like 10% of the native american population to me.
